Current News

On Wednesday, the Vermont House of Representatives advanced a bill that redraws House districts to reflect changes in population as reported by the 2010 US Census. The redistricting bill’often known across the country as the most partisan bill of the decade for state legislatures’was approved on a vote of 138-4.
‘It is rare that a bill like this has broad bipartisan support,’ said Speaker Shap Smith. ‘It is a tribute to the good work of the committee and its driving goal of designing the most representative districts possible, not the most partisan. It once again shows the country that Vermonters from all parties can come together to find common sense solutions on the tough issues facing our state.’
The House Government Operations Committee began to revise the district lines in the fall of 2011. The Committee began the process using the current district map’developed under a Republican majority in 2002’as a template to make required changes.

Registration is under way for the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation’s 11thannual College Pathways program, a free day of college planning workshops for high school sophomores and juniors and their parents.
In order to accommodate as many families as possible, VSAC hosts College Pathways in three locations on the following Saturdays:
·March 17 at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester
·March 24 at Castleton State College in Castleton
·March 31 at Lyndon State College in Lyndonville

The program enables each student and parent to choose several workshop topics from nine available, and includes a free bag lunch. Among topics offered are writing a college application essay that stands out, strategies for taking SATs and ACTs, creating a college list that fits you, and demystifying financial aid.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., (GMCR) (NASDAQ: GMCR), a leader in specialty coffee and coffee makers, today announced its fiscal year 2012 first quarter results for the thirteen weeks ended December 24, 2011.
Barron's Avi Salzman reported: "Green Mountain Coffee Roasters(GMCR) shot past analysts’ fourth quarter estimates, sending shares up 8% immediately after the report was released after-hours. Trading was quickly halted and is expected to reopen at 4:30.
GMCRposted60 cents of EPS, on $1.16 billion in revenue. Analysts had been expecting 36 cents of EPS and $1.06 billion in revenue. The company reaffirmed 2012 guidance."
Performance Highlights
First Quarter Fiscal Year 2012

The Vermont State Treasurer’s Office is reissuing 1099-R forms to a group of retirement system members who recently received forms which contained two items of information printed in the wrong boxes. A letter alerting the members to the error will be mailed today.
The reissuance impacts approximately 8,700 people. The retirement accounts are from the Vermont State Employees’, Vermont State Teachers’, and Vermont Municipal Employees’ Retirement Systems. The forms were mailed on or before January 30. The 2011 1099-R is the tax statement for retirees and others receiving payments through the retirement system that is generated and distributed by the retirement division each January. The printing error impacted members who had state taxes withheld in 2011 from their payments associated with their retirement benefits.

Vermont Law School will offer a unique new course this summer designed to help senior electric utility executives gain a better understanding of the legal basics critical to operating an effective utility company.
The rigorous two-week class will give executives the legal foundation to more fully understand the utility regulatory framework, the role of federal and state energy regulatory commissions and how to operate more effectively within these structures.
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) supported VLS’s Institute for Energy and the Environment (IEE) development of the course, which is modeled after similar utility executive trainingcourses at MIT andthe University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
‘We expect 12 to 15 high-potential, forward-thinking electric utility executives to attend this special course,’ said Professor Michael Dworkin, director of the IEE.

Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports, the largest year-round organization in the state to offer daily adaptive sports programs to people with disabilities, publicly announced today that the organization is officially underway with the first phase of its new, three-phase, three-location Permanent Homes Campaign, with plans for a state-of-the-art $1.3 million access-for-all building at Pico Mountain.
Phase I of the campaign, which includes partnering with the Pico Ski Education Foundation, an alpine ski racing non-profit dedicated to providing young athletes with the resources to pursue their dreams, will provide a permanent home for Vermont Adaptive's state headquarters and the first year-round adaptive sports center in Vermont. Vermont Adaptive currently uses space provided by Pico Mountain for its programming and state headquarters.

MMIC (Mobile Medical International Corporation) is pleased to announce the addition of R. James ‘Jim’ Nicholson, former Secretary of Veterans Affairs, to their Board of Directors. Nicholson joined the board in the fourth quarter of 2011. MMIC manufactures world-class mobile medical facilities and rapidly deployable shelter systems that are used across the globe for a variety of international and domestic needs.

The Vermont Community Foundation and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture announced that the Vermont Farm Disaster Relief Fund is accepting applications for a new grant round focused on providing funding for emergency feed purchases.

‘As we anticipated, feed has now become an urgent need among Vermont farmers affected by Irene. Many farmers who thought they’d have enough feed for their animals are now discovering that their hay and corn was severely damaged by the flooding and are faced with the unexpected cost of having to buy feed,’ says Chuck Ross, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture.

‘Because of the current demand, available feed is more expensive,’ says Ryan Torres, philanthropic advisor at the Vermont Community Foundation. ‘We have reserved funding to help farmers purchase feed to get them through the winter and we encourage those who are unable to buy feed to apply for assistance as soon as possible.’

The Inn at Weston is now a member of the prestigious Select Registry, a distinguished collection of inns, bed and breakfasts and unique small hotels across the United States and Canada that offer guests an outstanding experience.

The inn, owned by Bob and Linda Aldrich, recently received the designation by Select Registry, which discretely evaluates applicants through a blind inspection and addresses more than 200 separate areas of quality evaluation.

As one of 16 members in Vermont, The Inn at Weston provides personal and professional excellence to guests.

"We are honored to have been accepted into this elite group of the finest inns and bed and breakfasts in the nation. We strive to provide a high standard of excellence in everything we do. Being a member of

Select Registry helps to illustrate this principle," said owner Bob Aldrich.

Secretary of State Jim Condos announces the release of a white paper, entitled ‘Developing State Solutions to Business Identity Theft: Assistance, Prevention and Detection Efforts by Secretary of State Offices.’ This report was completed by the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) Business Identity Theft Task Force.
Secretary Condos, a member of this national task force, worked with other Secretaries of State, as well as outside stakeholders including cyber security and identity theft protection experts, law enforcement representatives, and consumer advocates to develop this helpful tool.

This report contains a series of basic recommendations that all states, including Vermont, can follow to help prevent the spread of business identity theft, including:

This morning, the Vermont House of Representatives gave preliminary approval to H464, a bill which places a 3-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing inVermont.
The process of fracking entails the injection of large volumes of pressurized water and chemicals into the ground to extract oil and natural gas. Concerns have been raised about its possible contamination of groundwater. The moratorium will allow time for an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report due in 2014 on the effects of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water.Following the completion of the report, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation will be charged with revising its rules relating to this practice.

According to a report released today by the Vermont Public Assets Institute, since the early 1990s, when the IRS started trackingmigration and income, people moving to Vermont haveconsistently reported higher average annual incomesthan the Vermont residents who were leaving.1The mostrecent data for 2010 shows that trend has continued.2
The numbers of people coming and going over the past18 years have seesawed. For 10 of those years morecame; for eight, more left. But since the peak of inmigrationin 2001, when a little more than 17,000 peoplerelocated to the state, the number of newcomers hasbeen declining. And since 2005, the number of Vermontresidents moving out each year has exceeded the numberof new arrivals.
Those coming to the state still have higher averageincomes. So, even in years when out-migration hasexceeded in-migration, the total personal income in thestate has increased.